“Aiyah, it’s so hard to guess what these dignitaries are thinking.”

Hu Ma felt a sense of enlightenment after receiving Erguotou's explanation, repeatedly sighing and admiring the dignitary from the bottom of his heart.

Erguotou also sighed before cautiously saying, "I thought you were cautious, but unexpectedly, you were the one who accomplished great things. Did you ask that dignitary in the mountains for their opinion on the fenxiang (incense sharing) matter?"

It seemed that Brother Erguotou was truly concerned about the fenxiang matter. Hu Ma felt a slight smugness and deliberately sighed, "No."

Erguotou was surprised, "Ah?"

"Not at all."

Hu Ma honestly said, "I originally had a lot I wanted to say, but when I saw that person, I suddenly felt my mind go blank."

"I couldn't speak properly, and I was too timid. I just listened to what he said and did whatever errand he gave me. I didn't dare mention a single word about Plum Blossom Alley, Brother Erguotou. Am I a bit unfair to you?"

"No, no."

Erguotou was slightly disappointed but still said, "It's not your fault. How could we not be afraid when facing such a person? With our level of cultivation?"

"Besides, since we are reincarnated, we have ghosts in our hearts. The more we say, the more mistakes we make. The less we say, the fewer mistakes we make. You did the right thing, but I've been pondering this for the past few days, and even tested the waters. How should I put it..."

"..."

No wonder he asked about this matter right away. He had actually started to take action?

Hu Ma was a little surprised and happy. He originally thought that with Erguotou's personality, it would take some time for him to take action against Plum Blossom Alley. He quickly said, "How is it?"

"Unexpectedly smooth."

Erguotou smiled bitterly and said, "That Plum Blossom Alley was originally one of the most prestigious places in Mingzhou Prefecture, but now, the yamen (government office) and several well-established families and factions in Mingzhou Prefecture have all distanced themselves from it."

"I feel like Plum Blossom Alley has been hollowed out, just waiting to be squeezed out so a new person can take over."

"..."

"Distanced themselves?"

Hu Ma was slightly stunned before he realized what was happening.

It seemed that the aristocratic families and the yamen in Mingzhou Prefecture were not fools. Of course, the face of his descendant of the Hu family was unexpectedly significant.

When he looked at Plum Blossom Alley in the Suppression Office and sneered, saying that his small official position wasn't doing well, it was actually a kind of attitude, expressing dissatisfaction. He just didn't realize the weight of those words was greater than he imagined.

Erguotou had already been persuaded by Miss White Wine and others. Now that he tested the waters and found that the difficulty wasn't as great as he imagined, he would be tormented if he didn't take action.

"Then it's up to you, brother."

Hu Ma thought, then smiled and said, "Although I didn't dare to ask in front of that dignitary, I could tell from that small official's tone that the opportunity is excellent."

"Serving such a dignitary and thinking of waiting for him to completely nod is not quite right."

"Once he nods, it becomes a chore, and anyone can do it. But if you drive Plum Blossom Alley out before he nods, regardless of the benefits, that in itself is a great merit."

"..."

Having said that, he stopped, believing that Brother Erguotou would understand.

"That makes sense."

Erguotou fell silent, probably pondering something quickly in his mind.

Hu Ma knew that his goal had been achieved, so he smiled and changed the subject, "By the way, I have something I want to ask. How much do you know about the previous reincarnated individuals?"

"..."

"The previous ones?"

Erguotou was stunned for a moment and said, "Most of them disappeared after the Great Cleansing. Why are you asking about this?"

Hu Ma said, "I'm not confident after latching onto the legs of a dignitary. I want to see what they did."

There was no more legitimate reason than this. Erguotou thought hard for a moment and said, "To be honest, I don't know many of them. I only contacted one when I was learning skills on the Xishan Road, codenamed Biluochun (Green Snail Spring)."

"But he only gave me a few pointers before disappearing. I never met him in real life, so I don't know what his situation is."

"Those people seem to be all mysterious and don't communicate much with our generation of reincarnated individuals."

"..."

"Biluochun?"

Hu Ma was stunned for a moment, "Their codenames aren't alcohol?"

Erguotou said, "I don't know. The one I encountered used tea as a codename. I've heard of a few others like that, but I don't know if they're all like that."

"I've heard that their style is also different from ours. Our batch tends to hide and live quiet lives, but they..."

"..."

Listening to this, Hu Ma immediately became concerned, "What are they like?"

"I've only heard rumors."

Erguotou sighed and said, "They seem to focus on killing the entire family."

"?"

Hu Ma was stunned by this answer. Thinking of Digua Shao (Sweet Potato Wine), Erguotou and Miss White Wine were indeed more inclined to hide, while this little girl seemed rather old-fashioned?

"Then..."

After a slight pause, he slowly and cautiously asked, "Before the cleansing, what did the earlier batch of reincarnated individuals do?"

"These?"

Hearing Hu Ma's question, Erguotou was also stunned for a moment and said, "I forgot that you've only been in contact with reincarnated individuals for a little over two years. You're still a novice, and you don't know much about reincarnated individuals."

"Like us, there aren't that many people reincarnated into this world. And everyone is careful, only contacting each other when needed."

"Like us, we only became familiar with each other because we were in the same place for a long time. But most of the time, everyone is busy with their own things, and they only contact each other and look for opportunities when their paths cross."

"In this way, complete and thorough information is not so easy to obtain. It's all passed down by word of mouth. You give me some information, and I'll pass it on when I see an opportunity."

"As far as I know now, we are not the first batch of reincarnated individuals. The people from the earlier batch are probably already fifty to sixty years old now, which means they have been active in this world for forty to fifty years."

"But most of these people disappeared after the second cleansing. Perhaps some were killed, and others sensed the danger and hid."

"..."

Listening to his words, Hu Ma's heart stirred slightly. "Hid?"

"Could it be that some people already know what reincarnated individuals need to do, like a mission or something?"

"..."

"Mission?"

This was Hu Ma's own speculation after hearing the Mountain Lord's words. Erguotou was clearly a bit confused and then laughed, "What mission could reincarnated individuals possibly have?"

"Causing trouble is more like it."

"Anyway, from what I've seen or heard, some reincarnated individuals are determined to marry a hundred wives, some want to become famous in the entire brothel industry, some hide and live quiet lives, and some are headstrong enough to try to cling to the legs of dignitaries."

"Everyone does their own thing. Although they were all awakened by a mysterious voice, they haven't heard anything since they were awakened, so of course they do whatever makes them happy."

"..."

So, a common point for reincarnated individuals is that they were awakened by a mysterious voice.

Hu Ma silently pieced together this information and realized a very important issue, which was that he had not experienced this.

Other reincarnated individuals were reborn and, between the ages of three and ten, heard a mysterious voice and understood their identity. They could naturally use their natal deity statues to cultivate, contact each other, and had more opportunities to learn skills than others.

Besides the memories of their previous lives, this was their most important common point, but he didn't have it. He was summoned by his grandmother and became a monk halfway through his life.

He didn't even know what the voice they were talking about sounded like. Was it old or young? Besides waking them up, did it specifically instruct them on anything else?

However, this information was too important, and Hu Ma didn't dare to ask it out casually.

He could only sigh faintly, "But I went to Anzhou before through Miss White Wine's introduction and met other reincarnated individuals' organizations. I found that they seemed very afraid of the Ten Families' cleansing and have already begun to prepare for it."

"Brother Erguotou, how much do you know about this cleansing event? Is it done by people from the Ten Families, or by one of the Ten Families?"

"..."

"I don't know!"

Hearing Hu Ma's words, Erguotou's answer was surprisingly certain, whispering, "Not only do I not know, but I don't think other reincarnated individuals understand it either."

"I only know that this cleansing appeared around twenty years ago. Those reincarnated individuals suffered a great loss, but how it was carried out and how they were found out is really incomprehensible."

"To be honest, if we could figure it out, everyone wouldn't have to be so careful."

"..."

It seemed that this batch of reincarnated individuals represented by Brother Erguotou, including Miss Red Wine, didn't know that the cleansing was related to the Suppression Office, and it was even possible that the Suppression Office led the cleansing?

Hu Ma nodded silently, using the information given by the Mountain Lord and Brother Erguotou to cross-reference each other and analyzed many things. Then he sighed softly and said, "So, what I'm curious about now is actually the last question."

"What exactly is the Grand Duke of Jupiter?"

Let me update two chapters first and see how it goes.

(End of this chapter)